Improvement in firemen s ladders



2 Sheets-Sheet l.

A. WILLIS.

l FI REMENS LADDER. No.175,544. Patented March 28,1876.

NA PETERS. PHDTO-L|THOGM`PHEH. WASINGTON. D C.

z'sheets-sheet2,

A. WILLIS. FIREMENS LADDER.

Patented Mach 28,1876.

M' s@ Y A' wir M um. Y 5g/M @y UNITED STATES PATENT EErcE. l

ASA WILLIS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT lN FIREMENS LADDERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N o. 175,544, dated March28, 1876; application led January 26, 1876.

.To4 all 'whom it may concern:

Be it` known that I, AsA Y WILL-Is, of the city, county, and State of New York, have iuv vented certain new aud-useful Improvements in Portable Ladders and Derricks, applicable as a fire-escape, and -for other purposes; and

. Ido hereby declare that the following is a A full, clear, and exact description of the same,

reference being had to the accompanying drawing, which forms part of this specification.

kThis invention relates to that class of folding ladders and derricks, and tire-escapes, in which the folding sections ofthe ladder are combined with lazy-ton gs levers, for the purpose of extending them. My improvements consist in certain novel means of operating, adjusting, and bracing or apparatus, with the ladderpand lazy-tongs frame raised or extended, and adjusted to incline from a vertical position. Fig. 4 is a horizontal section mainly, as indicated by the line y y.

A is a truck by which the apparatus is car' ried, and may be conveyed from place to place, Y

as, for instance, when using it as a tire-escape. B is alower working base frame or support, suitably mounted to swing horizontally, when required, on or above the truck, by means of an upright pivot or king bolt, b, to adjust the machine or apparatus to various positions. Hinged to this lower Working base-frame B, at its back end, as 'at c, is an upper working base frame or support, G. D Dis the lazytongs frame made in duplicate, with the sectionally-constructed ladder E E in between it.

One of the lower levers of the lazy-tongs frame l on both sides of the ladder is jointed at d to a projection on the upper working base-frameA double threaded, or compound. This screw', which forms the primary4 operating device,

may be actuated by a crank or handle, y, and has its bearing in a fixed collar, h., at or near the one end of. the upper working base-frame C. Said screw serves to operate the sliding frame F, and, by the hereinbeiore-described attachment of the lower levers ofthe. lazytongs frame, motion is communicated to the latter and its. attached ladder, to raise and lower or fold and unfold them,vas required. The connection of the screw Gr with the sliding frame F is through aunt, i, on an inner forwardly-projecting fram'eor branch frame, F,attached to or forming part of the sliding frame F. By this arrangement of the inner frame and nut I am enabled to use a'short operating-screw, G, and the nut i is free to work between the .guides f f of the sliding frame. Instead of the screw G having its bearings h :on the LA'upper working base-frame C, it may be similarly carried by the lower working base-frame B, andthe branch frame F', which has the nut z' attached to it, be

hinged at its back to the sliding frame F.

In this case, the upper base-frame C should vbe cut away to provide for the frame F and nuti passing through it. By such arrangement of the screw G on the frame B, there is no lifting oi' it'when the frame C is raised.

The lazy-tongs lower, levers may be bent atV the king-bolt b, but it is desired to keep the working base-frames B (l in line with lthe are placed on these rods k, between the sides of the ladder-sections and the vsides of the lazy-tongs frame, to stiften and keep the ladder in position.

Metallic sleeves m m may also be arranged on the outer and central rungs of the laddersections, or either of them, between the sides of said sections to further stiften the ladder.

Y Itis proposed to cover or clothe the rungs ot' the ladder with sleeves fn n cfa soft and exible material, such as rubber, gutta-percha, or leather, to prevent slipping of the feet when ascending the ladder. vOnly certain of the rungs are thus shown clothed in Fig. 2.

The ladder-sections E E, which are carried intermediately of their lengthby the. central or fulcrum rods 7c of the lazy-tongs frame, as

f hereinbefore described, may be a little longer than the levers of said frame, and are jointed with each other at their meeting ends by connecting-rods or rungs passingin a close-tting manner through the upper. ends of the ladder-sections, and through curved slots 0 in the lneeting or adjacentlower ends ofthe ladder-sections E E. This mode `of attachment provides for the folding and unfolding of the ladder in common-and in like manner with the lazy-tongs frame, between which the ladder is arranged, and by the central or fullcrum rods kof which itis carried.

Attached to the back or outer ends of .the sliding frame F are underpinning-screws .H Hfor steadying or holding the apparatus .when raised or extended.

To give the lazy-tongs frame and its attached ladder any desired inclination from a `vertical position, the upper working base and hinged frame C are provided with one or more (preferably one on each side) adj usting-screws, l. These screws enter pivoted or rocking nuts r on or in the lower working base-frame B, which swinging or pivoted nuts provide for the curvature described by the adjustingscrews l in or during the up and down adjustment ofthe frame G. One or more chains, J, arel attached to the opposite ends of the upper and lower working base-frame C B to check or stop the upper base-frame C when fully inclined or thrown up. The apparatus, when raised or extended, may also be supported, especially when set inyclining backward, by means of ropes or chains K, attached at their one end to an upper central or fulcrum pin, k, of the lazy-tongs frame, and connected and operated at their opposite ends by a windlass, L, carried by arms s at the one or forward end of the upper base-frame O.

yTo brace the apparatus laterally, when raised. or extended,the lower` working baseframe B has pivoted to it, at or near its rear end, laterally-swinging rods or arms M, provided at their front ends with underpinningscrews N, which bit-e into or bear on the ground. These rods or arms M have jointed to them, at or near their forward ends, side .braces P, which, when raised or extended,

lock under or with hooks or projections u on or extending fromon'e of the upper fulcrumrods 7c of the lazy-tongs frame D D. These braces serve to give a spread and laterallyextended-support to the apparatus when the rods M are thrown outward, andthe underpinning-screws N are adjusted as required. When, owever, it is not necessary to thus support the raised or extended apparatus at its sides, or when moving the apparatus from place to place, the braces Pmay be let down, and the same folded and shut sidewise, together withthe rods or arms M, against or within the machine, as represented in Fig. 1.

By the construction of the apparatus as shown anddescribed the sectionally-constructframe, and the other or moving block has the goods to be raised or lowered attached to it. When such hoisting or lowering attachment is not required to be used itis simply unhooked .from the ladder-rung or fulcrum-rod of the lazytongs frame,`and allowed to drop to the ground, or is packed away on one or other of the Working base-frames, or on the platform of the truck. l

Fig. 3 shows by full and dotted lines said pulley or tackle-block attachment in its liberated position and in workin g connection with a rung of the ladder. f

I claimj 1. The combination of the lower working base-frame B, the upper Working base-frame C, hinged at or near its one end to the frame B, the slide F, and the lazy-tongs frame D D, with its attached sectionally-constructed ladder E E, essentially as described.

2. rEhe combination of the screw Gr with the nut i, attached to the inner forwardly-projecting frame F', the main sliding frame F, and the slotted guides f j', substantially as specified.

3. The ladder sections E, provided with curved slots o at. their lower ends, in combination with the outer rungs passing through said slots and through the upper ends of adjacent ladder-sections, the lazy-tongs frame D D, and the fulcrum-rods k of said frame, essentially as described.

4. The combination of one or more end un- @winning-screws, H, with the'vslidin'g frame F and the lazy-tongs frame D D, With its attached ladder, substantially as specified.

7. The pivoted or jointed side braces P, in combination with the laterally-swinging side arms or rods M, the underpinning-screws N, and the hooks or projections u u, with or under which the braces P lock, essentially as described.

'ASA WILLIS.

Witnesses: A f

BENJAMIN W. HOFFMAN, FRED. HAYNES. 

